Hunter Hayes: “Art’s Not Easy to Find”

“I feel like I went through a big change going from 18 to 25. I went through a lot of figuring it out, and the music was driven by that,” Hayes told Billboard.

“This record has been about getting rid of all those things in the way and being truly creative, like I was, in the deepest way, with the first record,” he said of his new music.

But he also says that he is not ever trying to recreate the first record and that he tries not to stay anywhere that feels too safe.

“We search, because art’s not easy to find,” he said.

His search is currently underway, he says, and he called it a pretty serious journey.

“It’s been a lot of big changes and embracing. You’d be surprised how many times you can get in your own way when you’re working on that, and I did. It’s been an ongoing effort to learn that it’s OK to struggle with that and it’s OK to be vulnerable.

“I think that’s why I’ve entered into this sort of era where it’s just like, I’m ready. There’s nothing about me that is scared or feels like anything is sort of missing,” Hayes says, adding, “My heart is full.”